Twenty-one-year-old Lehečka also won the second singles match on clay in Maie. On Saturday, he defeated the domestic No. 2 Nuno Borges (twice 6:4). The thirty-ninth tennis player in the world, who played the role of the highest-seeded player at the tournament, let them forget the previous failure in today’s doubles, in which Tomáš Macháč and Adam Pavlásek were not enough against Borges and Francisco Cabral and lost 5:7, 6:7. Lehečka scored his fourth victory in a row in singles in the Davis Cup, he also succeeded twice last year in the play-off against Israel.
The Czechs defeated the Portuguese for the first time in independent history. The former Czechoslovak team also succeeded in the previous two duels, the last time they won 5:0 in Prague in 1971.
The final tournament will take place from September 12 to 17. The elimination part is on the program from November 21 to 26 in Málaga. The Portuguese will have a playoff to stay in the elite group.
Australian Open quarterfinalist Leheček lost the first set of the match in the fifth game. However, Sousa, who was twelve years older, immediately repaid the break and won the whole set at 5:4 with another broken serve. The native of Mladá Boleslav played 12 winning balls compared to the opponent’s five.
Coach Michal Navrátil’s protege followed up on the successful finish in the beginning of the second set. He took an early 2-0 lead with an early break and then fended off three break points on serve. Sousa won the only point in the fourth game, then Lehečka dominated the remaining three games and could raise his hand in triumph after one hour and twenty-five minutes. He defeated Sousa, the 84th player in the world, for the second time, having previously succeeded against him at the tournament in Kitzbühel last year.
The last time the Czechs played in the final part of the Davis Cup was two years ago, when they faced the French and the British in Innsbruck. Last season, they lost the qualification in Argentina 0:4 and saved their participation in the elite club in a tie against Israel (3:1).
